Kansas football coach Charlie Weis gestures as he speaks with to high school coaches Wednesday morning, Aug. 1, 2012, as part of the Kansas State High School Activities Association's Coaching School at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka, Kan.. (AP Photo'Topeka Capital-Journal, Thad Allton) ORG XMIT: KSTOP101

“I mean, seriously. We've had two overtime games now against Iowa State,” Weis said. “You can learn a lot by watching this basketball team and the way they play — their toughness and their cohesiveness. They like playing with each other.”

And that's what Weis has done all season — watched and learned from Kansas' basketball team after his football team went 1-11 in his first year as head coach.

The Oklahoman caught up with Weis to talk about basketball and next year.

You go to a lot of games in Allen Fieldhouse, right?

As many as I can.

What do you like about KU basketball?

I like the toughness of our basketball team. When I took the job last year, I thought they were one of the most overachieving teams in the country and that they have a really tough mentality that I think we can try to rebuild a football team with. … We have a great team already on campus and we can emulate them.

Do you think it's been kind of hard being at a basketball school?

No. I think there's two ways of looking at that. You either look at it as you're a second-class citizen or you play into it. And for me, what kind of better recruiting tool is there in January than to go to Allen Fieldhouse when it's rocking and rolling and bring in a bunch of recruits and they say, “Oh, my God.” So there's two ways to look at it.